1 Salvaging the Main Key/switch Tue Apr 04, 2023 4:26 am
jjefferies
Life time member
Ok, this one is on me. I decided I needed an extra flat key to hide on the bike in case I ever lost my main key and needed to ride anyway. So from Greg's collection of 300 odd K bike keys I selected a couple that looked appropriate. Took them home and one came close to working. Comparing it to the existing key I used a dremmel to get it in shape. The key would fit and would even start the bike if I jiggled it just right. No problem getting it in or out. Took one last run at smoothing it out. And it worked very well. UNTIL I tried to pull it out. Ooh, you fricking key. It works just fine to turn the bike on/off but won't come out of the key slot. I pulled, jiggled left and right up and down, pushed in and in every direction. I tried WD40 and other lubricants. No luck I had it with my bare hands, and with a pair of pliers. No coming out. I don't care what it identifies as it just won't come. I've pulled on it until I was afraid I was doing damage to the lock mechanism and the electrical switch underneath. No Go.
Finally I decided I had to take the whole thing apart. I got the lock/switch out as can be seen in the photo below. Deciding I would never trust that key again I willingly cut on one side so I could remove the plastic mounting bits and keep them from being damaged. As you knowledgeable types know there is a very small screw in the side that keeps the switch? in the mount. And as luck would have it, it apparently is rusted in place. At present I have saturated it with WD40 and another lubricant and then applied 100 lbs of air in hopes of getting the lube back into all female side of the screw. So far no luck. I've left it for the evening hoping the lubricants will soak in and tomorrow I can have another go at it.
So any suggestions on how to undo my bad? Greg thinks he may have another switch/lock assembly and I can spend a couple of hours trying all 300 keys searching for one that works. But that would leave me with 5 other keyed items that need to be re-keyed/worked (2 saddle bags x 2keys per and the fork lock). So I would prefer to salvage this one. Is there any other way into the key section of the switch? My un-original thought was to remove the switch from the bottom of the stack of key/switch and then get access to the keys. Not even sure if that is a sensible/feasible approach. And that would only work if I can get the tiny/little screw out of the side.
Oh, OK, it comes to me that if I can get the key portion out I can just get another such part and make it fit the existing key. Ok. that sounds like it would work.
Thanks
J.
Finally I decided I had to take the whole thing apart. I got the lock/switch out as can be seen in the photo below. Deciding I would never trust that key again I willingly cut on one side so I could remove the plastic mounting bits and keep them from being damaged. As you knowledgeable types know there is a very small screw in the side that keeps the switch? in the mount. And as luck would have it, it apparently is rusted in place. At present I have saturated it with WD40 and another lubricant and then applied 100 lbs of air in hopes of getting the lube back into all female side of the screw. So far no luck. I've left it for the evening hoping the lubricants will soak in and tomorrow I can have another go at it.
So any suggestions on how to undo my bad? Greg thinks he may have another switch/lock assembly and I can spend a couple of hours trying all 300 keys searching for one that works. But that would leave me with 5 other keyed items that need to be re-keyed/worked (2 saddle bags x 2keys per and the fork lock). So I would prefer to salvage this one. Is there any other way into the key section of the switch? My un-original thought was to remove the switch from the bottom of the stack of key/switch and then get access to the keys. Not even sure if that is a sensible/feasible approach. And that would only work if I can get the tiny/little screw out of the side.
Oh, OK, it comes to me that if I can get the key portion out I can just get another such part and make it fit the existing key. Ok. that sounds like it would work.
Thanks
J.